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Europe: 72% Of Homes Are Now Broadband-Connected; Online, News Reading Is Users' Favorite Pastime
Dec 18, 10:13AM
It’s official: Europe is fast approaching a point at which broadband is becoming ubiquitous among consumers, and with it is coming a surge of popularity for online news, social media, and e-commerce. Today the European Commission released details for how European countries have been adopting broadband, and what they are using it for. The top-line figures: in 2012 72% of households now have a broadband connection. And in a survey of what it is that people do online, the most popular activity is newsreading, at 60%. The stats were released just as Neelie Kroes, the VP of the European Commission, prepares to give a speech in which she lays out priorities for the next year in European digital policy. Topics she’s she’s expected to cover include a 10-point plan for broadband growth; plans for copyright actions; and a new initiative for designing and manufacturing hardware — described informally as an “Airbus for chips” — to rival countries in Asia and North America. (You can watch that speech yourself here.) The stats were compiled by Eurostat, the Luxembourg-based directorate of the European Commission that provides statistics to EU institutions and also a unified measurement framework across the different member states. Europe on average has come a very long way in broadband penetration. Whereas in 2006 only 30% of the population had broadband access, now that figure is at 72%. Some countries like Denmark and Finland are now at 85% and significantly no country is at less than 50% penetration. Social media is one of the most popular categories for online activity. Some 52% of European residents with broadband connections use them to post messages to social media sites. Even more popular is reading: more than 60% of consumers use their broadband to read online news. But, in a sign of how “lean-back” is the order of the day, only 9% of them are creating their own blog or other website content. The figures also speak to platform consolidation online — people are increasingly going to sites like Facebook and Twitter to express themselves, and less so trying to create their own spaces online for the same purpose. Kroes today is laying out a seven-point plan for Europe’s digital agenda in the next year, which we’ll detail below. But one striking takeaway from Eurostat’s figures is that although we are laying the groundwork for basic broadband connectivity, when it comes to servicesWith 140M+ Users, Skype Competitor Viber Launches "Send Location" Feature For iPhone, Android
Dec 18, 9:55AM
Today Viber has hit another huge milestone, announcing that there are now over 140 million users on the service, and that's only the beginning. According to the company, an additional 400,000 users join the service every day. To celebrate, the company has launched version 3.2 of the popular calling and messaging app, with brand new features for iOS and Android users. In case you haven't heard of the startup yet, Viber is a service that lets smartphone owners of all shapes and sizes place voice calls and send text messages and picture messages for free, no matter the distance or location.Apple Vs. Samsung: U.S. Judge Denies Apple's Request For Permanent Injunction, Tosses Samsung's Call For New Trial
Dec 18, 9:04AM
The U.S. judge in the Apple vs Samsung court battle that's being played out in the district court of Northern California has denied Apple's request for a permanent injunction on Samsung devices, Reuters is reporting. This follows Cupertino's $1.05 billion damages award against Samsung this summer when the jury in the case ruled that multiple Samsung smartphones infringed Apple patents.More Than Half Of The Forbes' 30 Under 30 In Tech Are Y Combinator Alums
Dec 18, 7:49AM
Forbes released its annual 30 Under 30 lists yesterday and a stunning 15 of the 30 companies that people on the "Tech" list work for are Y Combinator alumni companies. Because multiple people from the same company are counted as a single entry on the list, Y Combinator actually counts 23 of the 40 people, rather than entries, on the tech list as alums.Mobile Photosharing, The Final Social Frontier
Dec 18, 6:54AM
Despite Consumergeddon, it's still a mobile photosharing jungle out there. Unless of course you are Snapchat, in which case welcome to being the prettiest girl in the room. Which, while fun at times, still sucks. Because welcome to everyone being intimidated by you (as Facebook is with all of its heavily used communication apps) or accusing you of (warranted or unwarranted) salacious behavior or copying you or all of the above. So yeah.With New Profiles, 'Following,' Search & HD Photos, 360 Is Starting To Look Like The Panoramic Instagram
Dec 18, 6:00AM
As great as the allure of its filters may be, Facebook didn't spend $1 billion on Instagram for its digital photo effects. No, it was because Instagram was mobile-first, growing like a weed, had just launched on Android, and because it had created (with a small team) the first good-looking, mobile-centric social network for photos -- location-tagged photos to boot. Launching a major redesign of its panoramic photo-sharing Android app, 360, today, Silicon Valley-based TeliportMe wants to do for the panoramic view what Instagram did for your regular old mobile photos.Facebook And Snapchat Go Toe To Toe: Why It's Good For Both Companies
Dec 18, 3:36AM
Facebook is building a standalone app to compete with the red-hot impermanent photo-messaging app Snapchat, as reported by AllThingsD's Mike Isaac late last night. Facebook plans to launch its app by the end of the year; the app will function very similarly to Snapchat.Design Software For Organ And Tissue Printing Is On Its Way With Autodesk, Organovo Partnership
Dec 18, 3:32AM
Autodesk's software may be best-known for helping architects design buildings or for prototyping products, but it soon may be applied to designing tissues and organs. Autodesk and Organovo, a publicly-traded bioprinting company, are partnering on software for designing three-dimensional human tissues. While it's still a few years too early for these tissues to be applied in treating humans, Organovo's tissues are already used in medical research.Home Depot Acquires Data-Driven Retail Pricing Startup BlackLocus
Dec 18, 1:29AM
Big retailers are showing more and more that they're not just about to let the tech wave pass them by. The latest example? BlackLocus, an Austin, Texas based startup that builds technology that helps retailers make data-driven pricing decisions, has been acquired by home improvement retail giant Home Depot.What The Twitter/Instagram Standoff Has Meant For Traffic To Instagram
Dec 18, 1:26AM
When Instagram began to pull its inline previews of photos out of Twitter almost two weeks ago, many did not take that turn of events too well. Consumers like things easy, and clicking out of one app or site to go elsewhere is not always the best experience.Visa Issues Scuttle Topix's Acquisition Of Taploid, Gossip App Will Now Shut Down Amid Funding Crunch
Dec 18, 1:10AM
It's a tough day for The Taploid and its plucky founder Redg Snodgrass. H1-B visa issues for the startup's UK team soured a buyout by city forum site Topix, and investors have pulled out forcing the tabloid app to shut down and the team to scatter into consulting jobs. It's a sobering moment that illustrates why the U.S. needs to fix its startup visa situation, and that the funding crunch is real.VideoGenie Launches Self-Serve Option For Brands To Build Ads From Fan Videos
Dec 18, 1:01AM
Over the last few years, VideoGenie has changed the way brands do advertising by allowing their fans to become a product's biggest advocates. With a platform for capturing and distributing user-submitted videos, VideoGenie allows brands to let fans promote products for them. It's been used by some of the largest brand advertisers out there, but now it wants to open up to allow practically anyone to build these types of campaigns.Programming Your Culture
Dec 18, 12:05AM
Editor's note: Ben Horowitz is co-founder and partner of Andreessen Horowitz. Ask 10 founders about company culture and what it means and you'll get 10 different answers. It's about everything from office design and values to fun and finding like-minded employees. So what is culture? Does culture matter? If so, how much time should you spend on it?Josh Williams On Why Facebook Acqhired His Startup Gowalla To Put A "Nearby" Lens On 250M Geo-Posts Per Month
Dec 17, 11:54PM
"A location service only gets interesting when you get to a certain scale," and Foursquare isn't there yet says Josh Williams. His check-in app Gowalla wasn't either, but it was bought by Facebook where a quarter-billion people tag locations each month. In an interview, Williams tells me how the Nearby feature he launched on Facebook today shows you that data "through the lens of what's around you right now".Polar Hits 1 Million Votes, Illustrates How To Develop A Truly Successful Mobile-First App
Dec 17, 11:36PM
We told you about the super-simple and super-sticky voting app Polar for iOS a few weeks ago, and since then, the app has taken off quite nicely. When you use it, you'll instantly see how people are exploring the platform to learn what they think about the things that they're interested in. Sure, it's a "polling" app, but calling it just that is selling it short. It's quite addictive in a "Hot Or Not" way, to boot.Infochimps Launches Enterprise Cloud For Big Data Analytics
Dec 17, 11:03PM
Clouds, clouds, everywhere there are clouds. Here's one more to file in your cloud list from Infochimps that's all about big data. Infochimps Enterprise Cloud is the kind of service you won't see any time soon from an enterprise behemoth like Oracle or most of the enterprise big boys. Why? Because it's self-service.Sequoia Raises $700M For Global Growth Fund
Dec 17, 11:02PM
Sequoia Capital filed a form with the SEC today, indicating a $700 million raise for a fund titled Sequoia Capital Global Growth Fund, L.P. While Sequoia declined to comment on the filing, our sources tell us that this fund is actually separate from the international funds that Sequoia raised money for earlier this year.Nielsen's Steve Hasker Says The New Twitter TV Rating Isn't Just For Advertisers
Dec 17, 10:48PM
When a new measurement called the Nielsen Twitter TV Rating was announced this morning, neither company provided a lot of detail about what specifically they'd be measuring. So I got on the phone with Steve Hasker, Nielsen's president of global media products and advertiser solutions. He was still pretty vague about the product, but he did offer some thoughts on who will use it and the advantages it will have over other social analytics tools. In the press release, Hasker said the new rating could be used by advertisers who "create integrated ad campaigns that combine paid and earned media [i.e. advertising versus organic social conversation around a show or campaign]." But he told me that's just one of three likely customer groups.Booktrack Raises $2 Million From Peter Thiel, Park Road, And Others To Add Soundtracks To E-books
Dec 17, 10:34PM
New Zealand-based startup Booktrack launched last year to provide e-book readers with something that they've been missing: soundtracks to go along with what they're reading. It's raised $2 million from Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures, Park Road Post Production, Weta Digital GM Tom Greally, Sparkbox Ventures, New Zealand Venture Investment Fund, EFU Investments Ltd., and Stephen Tindall's K One W One.A Very Makers Gift Guide
Dec 17, 10:26PM
It's been a weird year for hardware: the biggest, most news-worthy launches haven't come out of Cupertino or Tokyo but out of small Kickstarter campaigns that have, in the end, raised millions of dollars. Makers, in other words, are finally getting their due.
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